Page 16 of Lady Fiona's Tall, Dark Folly
But now here she was before him and as chance would have it, she was near him but in pain.
Odd how life turned the tide. When they'd met, he was the one in need of her. In the space of a few hours, she changed his perspective. Even though, the next day, she’d never appeared in Green Park.
Why she had failed to come, he could list a hundred reasons. She'd been too free with him. She regretted it. Feared him. He'd been too much the rogue. Scared her off. Shown her someone quite different than who he was. No well-bred lady would meet such a scoundrel in the park. Not even with an abigail. But he had hoped.
More than that, he'd vowed to find her again. He'd asked his friends their advice. Describing her beauty, he'd hoped for hundreds of referrals. He'd acquired a few. Five to be exact. He'd had the chance to trace each of them during the three occasions he'd obtained leave from his regiment. None of the ladies had been his mysterious lady love. Two had tried to lure him, in fact. But he found them wanting.
Foolish, he'd been to persist in his search. Foolish, he admitted he was to hope said lady might remember him or favor him with her attentions. Over time and desperate after two bouts of fever and a saber wound to his left calf, he'd grown morbid. He'd given up hope to find her.
If by fortuitous accident, she now faced him, he could understand why she could not readily bring herself to acknowledge that they had met. He'd give her that option. He'd give her anything in this world.
For what did the past matter? He had found her.
She was here with him.
And he had a second chance to learn her every secret—and—
This time, if she could care for him, he'd make her his own.
